


babysit a god; babysit a spider

by carefulren



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Sick Character, Sickfic, Tumblr Prompt, Whump, sick!Peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:51:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carefulren/pseuds/carefulren
Summary: the one where sick Peter's left behind from a mission to watch over Loki, but Loki ends up having to watch over him





	babysit a god; babysit a spider

“Let me go with you, Mr. Stark,” Peter says, voice toeing the edge of a whine, as he follows the older man down the hall to where the other Avengers are suited up. 

He wants to go more than anything. Sure his head is pounding against his temples, making it a little hard to concentrate, and maybe he’s been swallowing back coughs so much that his throat is beginning to feel thick with glass as his lungs tremble for relief, but he wants to go, wants to help defend the city.

“I’m not sure what part of ‘it’s too dangerous’ that large brain of yours isn’t comprehending, but the answer is still no, kid.” 

Peter’s hot on Tony’s heels as the two step into the lobby of Stark Tower, and he bites back a cough, clearing his throat with a hidden wince. “But, Mr. Stark–”

Tony stops abruptly, and Peter has to work to not crash into his back. The older man spins around, his lips pressed into a firm, unyielding line that Peter matches with narrow, determined eyes.

“I said no, Peter, and I’m not going to argue with you on this. Someone has to stay back and keep Loki in check, and you just happened to draw the short straw.” Tony holds Peter’s gaze until Peter caves, dropping his to the floor with a huff, and it’s only then that Tony turns his back and starts toward the others, but he still catches Peter’s muttering to the floor. 

“It’s not really drawing the short straw if someone draws it for me.” 

Tony stops for a breath of a moment, shoulders slumping slightly before he starts toward the group, and Peter watches, unaware that Steve’s coming up from behind him.

He jumps slightly when a large hand claps down on his shoulder, and he looks up to see Steve offering a soft smile.

“You know he’s like this because he cares about you, right? He only does this with you– he’d easily toss the rest of us to the wolves.” 

“I feel like he thinks I’m not capable,” Peter mutters, and Steve gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze. 

“You’re plenty capable, and he knows this. But, sometimes he has to make a judgement call, like he did today.” Steve pauses, tilting his head slightly. “Some day, Pete, you’re going to have to lead this team, and Tony just wants to make sure you’ll be around to do that.” 

Sighing, Peter nods. “I get it,” he starts, voice low. “Thanks, Cap.”

Steve offers a genuine smile, but his smile twitches, threatening to drop to a frown. “Are you okay, Peter? You’re a little flushed.” He makes a move to press a hand to Peter’s forehead, but an alarm ringing out overhead has him pulling his hand away and looking to Tony with a frown.

“We’ve got to move,” Tony orders. “Now.” 

“Keep an eye on Loki,” Steve reminds Peter before he jogs over to the others, and Peter only nods, watching with yearning eyes as the others filter out of the tower, leaving him the only one there to keep tabs on Loki, to make sure the God of Mischief behaves. 

He waits until the team is off the property before he stalks back to the lounge, where Loki’s occupying a recliner and reading a book.

“Don’t try anything funny,” Peter says, voice colored with a rasp he not longer has the energy to push past. 

Loki only shifts a lazy gaze from his book, watching as Peter flops onto the couch and presses a few buttons on the remote until Netflix pulls up.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Loki calls out, voice thick with a familiar sarcasm that Peter rolls his eyes at. 

“And don’t be an ass.” 

A breath of a laugh slips past Loki’s lips as he turns his attention back to his book. He’s content to spend the evening reading as he finds books from Earth to be plenty appealing, but the brat is coughing… a lot, and Loki can’t recall any hint of the kid being sick earlier.

Still, it’s not his business, and mustering up the energy to care doesn’t sound like something he’s up for at the moment. So, he does his best to tune it out, but after an hour of reading the same page due to the rough hacks coming from the other side of the room, each one sounding more painful than the last, he sighs quietly and sets his book down, turning to Peter with a frown.

The kid’s got his knees drawn to his chest, and he’s shaking, even when he’s not coughing into his fist. His cheeks are a bright red, and Loki’s frown deepens. “Kid.”

“Why does everybody call me that?” Peter mumbles, more to himself, as he pulls a gaze away from the television and toward Loki. “What?” He gripes out around a cough. 

“Did this just come on?” 

“Did what just come on?” 

“This,” Loki presses, gesturing toward Peter’s poor form. “The coughing– you’re sick.” 

“What’s it to you?” There’s a bite to Peter’s tone, a color of heat that pushes past the dulled energy, and Loki arches one brow before shaking his head. 

“Nevermind.” He grabs his book and gets to his feet. “I’ll be in the next room.” At Peter’s sudden alert look, he waves his hand with a sigh. “Relax, I’m not going to try anything. I just want to read in peace.” Loki starts to the adjoining room that doubles as a study, with cushioned chairs and bookshelves, but he stops when Peter calls out to him. 

“Keep the door cracked.” 

With his back to Peter, Loki rolls his eyes, but he obeys the kid’s orders, cracking the door before he moves to one of the chairs and sinks into it with a deep-rooted sigh.

He gets thirty more pages into his book, finally able to tune out the sounds filtering in from the other room, when a thud pulls his attention out of the fantasy realm of his book and back to the presence. Barking coughs follow the thud, so many that Loki feels a hint of sympathy as he gets to his feet.

“Peter,” he calls out, but when he pushes open the door to see Peter on his knees by the coffee table, hacking away, his heart lurches in his chest, an unfamiliar show of concern. “Peter?” 

He crosses the room until he’s crouched beside the boy, and he places one, unsure hand to his trembling back. “Easy, Peter. Try and take a few breaths.” He can feel a worrying heat through Peter’s shirt, and his frown deepens as he smooths his free hand over Peter’s damp forehead, finding it burning to the touch.

“I don’t feel well,” Peter manages out when he’s able to catch his breath. His vision is swimming, and he’s ice cold despite the sweat dripping from his temples. His chest is almost burning, and his limbs ache. 

“Clearly,” Loki mutters. “How long have you been feeling unwell?” 

Peter has to think hard on this, his mind muddled with a stifling heat. “Since yesterday morning,” he admits, remembering how he woke with a headache. “It’s just been getting worse.”  

“Okay,” Loki breathes out, already plotting his next moves. “Can you stand?” 

“I think so.” 

Loki gets to his feet, and Peter’s slow to follow. He’s wobbly, his knees buckling as his vision wavers, but he keeps himself upright, and Loki guides him out of the room and to his own designated bedroom, keeping just close enough to catch the kid should he faint.

“Why not my room?” Peter mumbles, speech slightly slurred, as he climbs onto Loki’s bed. 

“I know where everything is in here.” Loki answers simply. He has a stash of medications, anything to keep himself well enough so Thor won’t fret over him as he adjusts to life on Earth, and he goes to the connected bathroom to look through them, returning with two different fever reducer brands, a thermometer, and a damp wash cloth, something he’s found comforting in the past when he’s overheated. 

He drapes the cloth over Peter’s forehead, and Peter breathes out a deep sigh, chest deflating as the cool of the cloth fights with the heat from his fever. He doesn’t argue when Loki holds the thermometer out, feeling much too drained from the walk to the room to do much, but he speaks up slightly when the device beeps and Loki retrieves it with a frown.

“What is it?” 

“104.1 degrees Fahrenheit,” Loki answers, and Peter frowns, eyes looking down as he racks his pounding head for an answer.

“Ned had the flu early last week,” Peter says, more to himself, yet Loki listens quietly. “I got the shot, but I heard it wasn’t too effective.” Each word is punctuated with a cough that burns against his lungs, and Loki shushes him with a wave of the hand. 

He picks a pill brand and offers Peter the appropriate amount before he leaves to retrieve a glass of water, and when he returns, Peter downs the pills and the water almost greedily. 

“Gods, Peter. Are you dehydrated too?” 

Peter considers the last time he had a drink, hours ago to his best guess, and he nods as he sinks down against Loki’s pillows. “I guess? I can’t remember the last time I had a drink…” 

“How can someone so smart be so stupid?” 

“Shut up,” Peter grumbles, eyes drooping closed despite his best efforts to fight it. “Don’t try–”

“Anything funny,” Loki finishes, a hint of annoyance in his tone. “I got it. Just be quiet and go to sleep.” 

Peter wants to fight it a little longer, to hold out until the others get back, but he’s utterly exhausted, and he feels as if he’s been thrown from a moving bus then run over by another, being left out in the cold. He shivers and frowns, cracking one eye open.

“Do you have an extra blanket? It’s freezing in here.” 

Wordlessly, Loki gets to his feet. He would argue that Peter’s fever is making him cold, and that’s still probably half of it, but the other half is the room’s temperature. He keeps the temperature in his room cold because he cannot handle the heat well, but he moves to crank the heat up before he snags a throw blanket from the back of a chair and drapes it over Peter’s shivering form.

“Sleep now.” 

Peter’s drifting off in moments, pulled to sleep by the fatigue from the fever and the constant coughing, and Loki pulls a chair up to the side of the bed, mimicking what Thor’s done for him.

*****

Tony’s never been so happy to walk into his tower. He’s sore all over, as is the rest of his team, but the cuts and bruises are worth it for they were successful.

“FRIDAY, where’s the kid?” 

He pulls his arms over his head, arching his back into a stretch that eases some of the pain.

_“Sir, Peter appears to have the flu. He’s in Loki’s room.”_

Tony frowns deeply at this, and he glances back to his team, his eyes finding Steve’s before he shifts to Thor. “Thor, if your brother so much as put a scratch on that kid…” He lets his narrow gaze finish the rest as he starts quickly to Loki’s room, with Steve and Thor hot on his heels, the others hanging back for fear of Tony’s pending wrath.

He makes it to Loki’s room in record time, but any words he’s had prepared in the short walk to the room fall short when he spots Loki perched on a chair while Peter sleeps in his bed.

It’s hotter than usual when he steps quietly into the room, and when Loki looks away from Peter to him, he can see the God slick with sweat, his long hair pulled up in a bun, with only a few strands clinging to his face.

“What happened?” Tony starts, whispering as he walks toward Loki. “Why’s it so hot in here?” 

“He’s been sick since yesterday. I assume he hid it from everyone so he could have a chance to go on the mission, and it’s hot because he was cold.” At this, Loki gets to his feet with a low huff, feeling uncomfortably warm. “His fever’s gone down some– it’s around 103.6 degrees right now. He’ll need more medicine in a about two hours.” 

With this, he starts out the door, looking over his shoulder. “He’s all yours.”

Frown still plastered to his lips, Tony looks back just as Loki steps into the hall beside his brother, shoulders sagging in relief at the cool air hitting his heated skin.

“Loki,” Tony calls out quietly, and Loki turns with an arched brow. 

“Thank you.” 

Loki only holds his gaze, the two sharing a silent conversation of respect, before he starts down the hall with Thor, leaving Steve and Tony to deal with the kid. He’s cared far too much for one night, and he wordlessly makes his way to a spare room, relieved to be free of tending to the kid, and maybe just a tad relieved that the kid is on the right track to getting better.

**Author's Note:**

> Why I love Loki and Peter interactions is beyond me, but I do, so here you go! 
> 
> Feel free to come say hi on tumblr! (@toosicktoocare)


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